Cleverly engineered by sour grapes defeated UMNO, shouts of "Hidup Melayu" erupted in Penang yesterday. The tumultuous Malaysian general election paved the way for Democratic Action Party's Lim Guan Eng to be sworn in as Chief Minister for Penang. The new opposition government in Penang announced a few days ago that state contracts will no longer be awarded based on NEP, an affirmative action policy inspired by Article 153 of the Malaysian Constitution and the 1969 race riots which ignited when Malays were deemed marginalised by UMNO. Will the increasingly influential alternative coalition dismantle a bumiputra policy launched in 1971?
Playing the race card and preying on the potential insecurity of the rural Malay population, UMNO has cleverly shifted the arguments to one of the opposition coalition as anti-Malay.
This politicised argument is a seductive one. Very few people would like their privileges revoked and the idea that DAP and its partners will allow the rolling back of Malay supremacy is a sensitive one in Malaysia. If Penang backs down from its declaration that state awards will be based on market forces bidding rather than selective awarding to companies run by Malay elites, is it a victory for UMNO, Malays in Malaysia or all Malaysians in Malaysia in the long term?
